


no other shade of blue

by nikkiRA



Category: Persona 5
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikkiRA/pseuds/nikkiRA
Summary: “By ‘I did something,’ you meant you got a dog.”“I didn’t get a dog,” Goro says, even though Ren is physically holding an actual dog. “I found a dog by the garbage, looking pathetic and smelly, and so I brought him up to bathe him.”The thing inside Ren’s chest thuds harder, and he bites back a grin. “You saw a sad, scared little puppy and so you took him home,” he confirms, relishing in the way Goro’s ears turn pink.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 29
Kudos: 241





	no other shade of blue

**Author's Note:**

> this didn't have a title and then folklore came out so here we are

Ren answers the phone on the third ring and is immediately met with, “I need you to come over.”

“Why?”

Goro says, hesitantly, “I did something.”

Ren switches the phone to his other ear. “Did something like accidentally set your stove on fire or did something like killed a man?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Goro says, and he even has the audacity to be annoyed, as if it wasn’t a perfectly legitimate question. “Nor is my stove on fire. Will you just come over?”

“Is this a life or death situation or can I finish grocery shopping first?”

A pause. Goro says, “You can finish grocery shopping first,” but he doesn’t sound happy about it. Ren looks at the small amount of items in his basket and then sighs. 

“It’s fine, I’ve barely started. I’ll head over,” he says, wondering how he managed to become so whipped when they’re not even dating.

Not that he hasn’t  _ tried.  _

Goro doesn’t say thank you. Instead he says, “Just walk in, the door is unlocked,” before hanging up. Ren pulls his phone away from his ear and stares at it, looking at the contact photo he’d set, of Goro looking annoyed and giving the camera the finger. He shakes his head, pockets his phone, and then starts putting the things in his basket back. 

* * *

This is what he finds when he gets to Goro’s:

The normally spotless apartment is in disarray. There are a few loose shoes lying around, and there’s a towel lying in the middle of the floor. There’s also a strange smell that he can’t quite put his finger on. He just has time to wonder what the hell is going on when his answer comes running out of the bathroom, soaking wet and slipping on the wet floor. The puppy barks when he sees Ren and runs at him, paws sliding about on the floor and tail wagging so fast Ren is afraid it’s going to dislocate itself. 

He drops his bag and kneels down. “Hi, buddy!” He says happily, as the dog launches itself into his arms. Ren removes his glasses, shoving them into his bag as the dog licks him all over, and the puppy is so excited that he ends up pushing Ren over onto his ass. 

He hears a  _ tsk  _ noise and looks up to see Goro standing in the hall in front of the bathroom, arms crossed and shirt soaking wet, hair pulled up out of his face. Ren feels something thud in his chest at the sight of him. 

“By ‘I did something,’ you meant you got a  _ dog.” _

“I didn’t get a dog,” Goro says, even though Ren is physically holding an actual dog. “I found a dog by the garbage, looking pathetic and smelly, and so I brought him up to bathe him.”

The thing inside Ren’s chest thuds harder, and he bites back a grin. “You saw a sad, scared little puppy and so you took him home,” he confirms, relishing in the way Goro’s ears turn pink. 

“Just shut up and help me,” Goro says defensively. “He’s too squirmy, it’s hard to wash him.”

Ren pushes the dog off him gently and stands up, staring down at the paw marks left on his clothes. He pushes his bag further out of the way and then scoops down to pick up the puppy, who takes the opportunity to continue to lick his face. 

“What are we calling it?”

“I didn’t name it,” Goro says. “It’s a stray.”

Ren is beginning to understand why all his friends are constantly dragging him for being in love with Goro Akechi. “So what have you been calling it? Haven’t you been talking to him?”

“I’ve just been calling it ‘dog.’”

_ I can’t believe I like you,  _ he thinks tiredly. 

“We have to give him a name. You have to name your children.”

“He’s not my child,” Goro says, lip curling.

“Yes he is, he is your child and now he’s mine too, he’s our adopted child and we are his dads and we have to  _ name him.” _

“Oh, I knew I should have called Ann.”

“But you didn’t, so you’re stuck with me, and anyway she’d want to name him too.”

“Fine, then name him!”

Ren stares at the dog. He’s probably around 15 pounds, about the size of a big cat; his fur is a dark grey colour, all knotted and matted, and his ears are floppy and too big for his head, but he has the most beautiful blue eyes. Ren looks at him and promptly forgets every suitable dog name in existence. 

“I’m cracking under the pressure,” he announces. Goro rolls his eyes so heavily that it’s almost audible. 

“Will you just hold him still while I try and comb his fur, please?”

It takes a solid twenty minutes to properly bathe and comb the puppy, after which both Ren and Goro look like they decided to bathe, too. Ren pushes his sopping hair out of his eyes and then says, “Can I borrow a pair of clothes?”

Something complicated and unreadable passes over Goro’s face before he nods. “Help yourself,” he says stiffly. “I’m going to towel him off.”

Ren disappears into Goro’s room; he’s been in there before (although admittedly not in the way he’d have  _ liked)  _ so he’s not surprised at how sparsely decorated and clean it is, but the crisp smell in the air and the empty dresser top really take all the fun out of being in there unsupervised. Leave it to Goro to take all the fun out of snooping. He opens one of the drawers and pulls out a t-shirt, a really nice blue colour that he’s almost certain he’s never seen Goro wear, and then starts digging around for an extra pair of pants. He shoves his hand deep into the drawer, passing over the clean pressed pants Goro usually wore and looking for something that perhaps didn’t look like something he’d wear to an interview. Even Goro Akechi had to have sweatpants somewhere, didn’t he?

The first drawer proves fruitless, so Ren opens the one below it, doing an internal fist pump when he sees it filled with pyjamas and sweatpants. He’s about to grab a pair of sweats when he sees a pair of pyjamas that he can’t resist. He changes quickly, throwing his wet clothes into Goro’s laundry basket. 

“Now these,” he says, heading back into the bathroom and gesturing at the pants, “are cute. Where did you get them?”

Goro looks up, eyes narrowing when he sees Ren in a pair of red pyjama pants with little black birds -- presumably crows -- all over them. “Ann gave them to me,” he says. “I’ve never worn them.”

There is a pang of disappointment in Ren’s stomach that he decides not to focus on, because he doesn’t want to admit that he’s  _ that  _ depressingly horny. “She’ll be heartbroken,” he says instead, crouching down in front of the puppy, who is currently being wrapped in a towel and hugged by Goro. Ren resists the urge to give him the stink eye. That dog didn’t know how lucky he was. 

Goro says, in an oddly tight voice, “Are you staying the night?”

A million different answers fly through Ren’s head all at once, and he settles on, “Uhhhh --” You know, like a fucking idiot. 

Goro rolls his eyes. “I’m not  _ asking.  _ You’re wearing pyjamas.”

“Oh.” Ren looks down at himself. “That was mostly just to make fun of you.”

“So you increased my laundry load for an unfunny joke?”

“Looks like it. Here, smile,” and he takes a quick picture of Goro and the dog. 

“Seriously?” Goro says, annoyed, but Ren has already sent it to the group chat. 

_ Ren: hey look at these two cuties  _ _  
_ _ Ann: OMG LOOK!!!!! _ _  
_ _ Ryuji: idk akechi isn’t that cute  _ _  
_ _ Ann: the DOG, ryuji!! _ _  
_ _ Ryuji: oh shit. what’s his name? _ _  
_ _ Ren: we’re trying to think of a name  _ _  
_ _ Yusuke: it should be something majestic. Something glorious. Something like… Amaya. It means night rain.  _ _  
_ _ Ren: amaya amamiya-akechi. I see nothing wrong with that _ _  
_ _ Akechi: we’re not hyphenating _

Ren looks up. “Why not?”

“Because we’re not keeping it. Naming it will only make you grow attached.”

“Why aren’t we keeping it!”

Goro fixes him with a look. “Do you know how much work it is to own a dog? I’m bringing it to a shelter.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“I suppose.”

“Why haven’t you stopped hugging him, then?”

Goro looks down guiltily at the dog. “I’m just making sure he’s dry.”

Ren laughs and boops the puppy on the nose. “I think he’s dry.”

The incessant buzzing of his phone draws his attention. 

_ Ann: ren?? Goro?? Where did u go  _ _  
_ _ Ann: it’s hard to tell with your bad photography skills but are the dogs eyes blue?? _ _  
_ _ Ann: i think u should name him aoi!!! _ _  
_ _ Akechi: i suppose that’s acceptable  _ _  
_ _ Ann: that means you love it i speak goro now  _

Ren puts his face close to the dog’s. “Do you like the name Aoi? Huh? Do you like that buddy?”

Aoi licks Ren’s nose. Goro sighs in defeat. “Fine. We can call him Aoi.”

Ren grins. “You’re not really going to give Aoi to a shelter, are you? I mean, look at him.”

Goro finally removes the towel and Aoi bounds off down the hall. “Ren, do you have any idea how much time, effort, and money goes into owning a dog? I would have to get supplies for him, I’d have to get him to a vet, he’ll need shots and he probably needs to be neutered too. I’m in school half the day, I don’t have time to properly raise him.”

“So we’ll both do it. We’ll share custody.” Goro rolls his eyes and moves to stand up, but Ren leans forward and puts his hands on Goro’s knees, stopping him. “I mean it. I’ll take shifts later in the day and take care of him while you’re at school. I’ll split the costs for everything. We’ll do it together.”

Goro shakes his head and pushes Ren’s hands away, standing up and looking down at his wet clothes forlornly. “It’s not a good idea, Ren. I’m bringing him to a shelter.” And then he stalks out of the room. Ren rubs his face and stands up, going to follow, but when he leaves the bathroom he sees Goro standing stock still in the doorway to his bedroom. Ren goes over to investigate and sees -- 

Curled up on Goro’s pillow, little nose twitching, Aoi is fast asleep. It’s the cutest fucking thing Ren has ever seen, and when he takes a look at Goro’s face, he sees an expression he’s never seen before. 

Goro sighs and turns, pushing Ren out of the room. “ _ Fine,”  _ he says gruffly. “But if you don’t pull your weight, he’s going to a shelter.”

Ren grins. Goro still has a hand on his back, pushing him into the kitchen. “We need a bunch of supplies. Food, a crate, treats, some toys, a collar and leash, and I’ll have to call and make an appointment with a vet. This would be much easier if we had a car…”

“I could ask Sojiro,” Ren says. 

“He is not going to let you borrow his car.”

“Sojiro loves animals, I bet he will. Just watch.”

Goro does, looking skeptical as Ren pulls out his phone and hits a speed dial button. His speed dial is a hidden mystery to everyone except Futaba, who made herself number one on the list. 

“Why are you calling me?” Sojiro says suspiciously instead of hello. 

“Your first instinct is going to be to say no, so I want you to actually think about it.”

“No.”

“Can I borrow your car?”

“No.”

“You didn’t think about it!”

“No,” Sojiro says for the third time. 

“Sojiro, Akechi adopted a puppy and we need to get him puppy things. He’s really cute. His name is Aoi. I’ll send you pictures.”

There’s silence on the other end, and then Sojiro says, “If there’s even a scratch on it…” Ren can’t believe he’s won so easily. 

“On my honour,” he says solemnly. Goro is shaking his head in disbelief. “Thank you.”

“I’ll leave the keys behind the counter,” Sojiro says gruffly. “And uh… don’t forget those pictures.”

“Unbelievable,” Goro says when Ren hangs up. 

“I’m a smooth talker,” he says with a wink. Goro rolls his eyes. 

“Fine. Which one of us is going to go to the pet store and who is staying here?”

“We’ll both go,” Ren says. 

“I am not leaving him alone in my apartment.”

“So we’ll bring him,” Ren says. 

“How? We don’t have a leash or collar for him.”

Ren, triumphantly, says, “I don’t ever want to hear you shit talk my bag ever again.” 

“I suppose that’s the only option,” Goro says reluctantly. “But won’t he try to wiggle out?”

“Well, your job while I drive will be to stop him.”

Goro mutters something under his breath that Ren can only assume is disparaging towards him, but he goes to get the dog anyway.

* * *

Aoi tries to escape a few times on the subway, but they manage to keep him in the bag as they head to Sojiro’s. Ren runs into Leblanc to get the keys, ignoring the deeply threatening note about what will happen if he wrecks the car. At the pet store, they get Aoi a collar and leash (they get into an argument over which leash to get; Goro argues for a simple blue one to “fit the theme,” Ren wants the orange one with fish all over it) which they purchase immediately so they can get the dog out of Ren’s bag, which he thankfully didn’t pee in. 

They get a crate and a dog bed, and Ren picks out a bunch of fun looking toys, although Goro absolutely puts his foot down when he tries to buy a few outfits. Ren finds a list on the internet of things you should get for a new puppy, and they make their way down it, bickering over most of the choices, but eventually they leave the store with Aoi sufficiently decked out, Goro on the phone with a vet making an appointment for tomorrow. By the time they get back to Goro’s apartment, Ren is pretty tired and significantly poorer. 

“I don’t understand how you were able to save so much money,” Goro says, leading Aoi to his place while Ren dragged their bags and the crate. He shrugs. 

“I told Makoto once how much I had made from the Metaverse and she just kind of… took over.” Goro doesn’t respond to this, just opens the door to his apartment and watches as Ren collapses through it, kicking the crate across the floor. 

“You could have taken  _ one  _ of the bags,” he says. 

“‘I can handle this, Goro, you just take the dog, I work out, look how big my arms are --’”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You might as well have.”

Ren glares. “Help me put the crate together and then I have to bring the car back.”

Together they get the crate set up with a blanket inside, setting out his food and water bowls and his dog bed in the corner of the room. Ren picks up Aoi before he goes and lets him lick his face before he goes, laughing at Goro’s disgusted expression and the way he flees from Ren in a panic when he tries to shove his face into Goro’s. 

“Get out,” Goro says, and Ren, still laughing, obliges. 

* * *

He’s woken up by his phone ringing, and when he blearily paws at it he sees first that it’s Goro, and then that it’s nearing two a.m. 

“Hello?” He says hoarsely. 

“ _ He won’t stop whining.” _

“What?”

“The dog,” Goro says desperately. “I locked him in his crate but he won’t stop crying, and they said to let him cry it out but I’m  _ tired  _ and I need to be awake in  _ four and a half hours  _ and he  _ won’t stop crying --” _

“Okay,” Ren says, sitting up. “Okay, okay, I’ll get a cab, I’ll be right over.”

“Thank you,” Goro says, and he sounds so genuinely relieved that Ren feels something warm bloom in his chest. 

He’s there less than half an hour later. Goro opens the door in pyjamas, a shirt that’s too big for him that shows Ren a very tempting strip of neck and a pair of shorts that show off his incredibly toned legs. Ren thinks he might pass out. 

“Hi,” he says, like a goddamn idiot. He can hear Aoi crying from inside. 

“Thank you,” Goro says again, before he heads back into his room. Ren shuts and locks the door behind him before heading over to where Aoi is standing up in his crate, whining pitifully. Ren lets him out and picks him up, taking him over to the couch and lying down with the puppy on his chest, where Morgana usually sleeps. 

“You’re keeping Goro up,” Ren tells him sleepily. “And he gets very grumpy when he’s sleep deprived. And he’s normally grumpy, so you can imagine how much worse it gets.” Aoi tries to wiggle out but Ren keeps a firm hand on him, keeping him still, trying to convey that it was still bedtime. After he continues to struggle Ren has the idea that maybe he has to go to the bathroom (Goro had puppy pads set up in his bathroom; Ren had made fun of him for putting them there, but he had just said the dog might as well go where everyone else did) and so he lets him go. 

Aoi doesn’t go far; he hops off Ren’s chest but then curls up on the end of the chaise, letting out a happy sigh. Ren watches this with a smile before he grabs the blanket off the back of the couch and drags it over himself to sleep. 

He wakes up to a clang like two mugs hitting each other, and when he opens his eyes he sees the stove light on, can hear Goro shuffling around. The dog is somehow still miraculously asleep, and Ren gets up carefully, sliding off the couch and trying not to wake him. 

“I’m sorry,” Goro says in a whisper when he sees Ren. “I was hoping I wouldn’t wake you.”

Ren shrugs. “It’s fine,” he says, nudging Goro out of the way from where he had been about to make coffee. “Move, you suck at making coffee.”

“I do not,” Goro whispers back, which is an outright lie that Ren does not bother to address. 

“I’ll do this, you can make breakfast.”

“I don’t normally eat breakfast.”

Ren gives him a glare. “Akechi Goro! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

“I’d rather sleep for an extra twenty minutes,” he says unapologetically. Ren clicks his tongue. 

“Unbelievable,” he says. “At least buy some muffins.”

“If I feel like it,” Goro says. Ren, not looking up from making the coffee, lifts his leg and kicks Goro in the ass. 

Goro sputters. “Amamiya --”

A small squeaking noise comes from the couch, and they both freeze, staring at each other with wide eyes. After a moment, though, when they hear nothing else and Aoi does not appear before them, they breathe a sigh of relief. 

“I’m buying you muffins,” Ren says quietly, before handing Goro his coffee. Goro gives him an unimpressed look, leaning against the counter. He takes a sip of his coffee (Ren is constantly in awe of how hot Goro drinks his coffee, although part of him thinks Goro suffers constant tongue burns for the sake of looking impressive) and then says, not looking away from his feet, “Ren.” And then he fishes something out of his pocket and passes it to Ren. 

He takes it; it’s a key. 

“It just makes it easier for you to go back and forth,” Goro says, still not looking at him. “It’s the spare.”

Ren swallows around a lump in his throat. “Right. Thanks.”

“Just don’t drop by just to annoy me,” Goro says. 

“Does that sound like something I would do?” Ren asks innocently. Goro gives him a look that says he’s not falling for that tone, and whatever weird thing had popped up is gone. 

“Remember we have a vet appointment this afternoon,” Goro says as he finishes his coffee. The easy way he says  _ we  _ makes Ren a little too happy. “Don’t ruin my apartment. I’ll see you later.” He gives Ren a nod goodbye, lips quirking up in a smile only Ren ever really sees, and he does something really stupid. 

He’s not sure what it is, if it’s the way Goro had said  _ we  _ or if it’s the key in the palm of his hand or if it’s the air of domesticity that exists between them right now, Ren making his coffee in the morning -- he doesn’t know, but he finds himself leaning back on the counter, adopting a pose much cooler and more confident than he feels, and says, “What? I don’t get a kiss goodbye?”

Goro stops, bag in hand, eyes narrowed at Ren. Internally Ren is screaming like he’s been murdered, but he manages to keep his calm on the outside, staring Goro down as if it’s a challenge. He has no idea how Goro is going to act, if he’s going to laugh it off or roll his eyes or if he’ll get angry. Ren has a brief vision of him bringing the Metaverse back through sheer force of will just to kick Ren’s ass. 

What happens instead is that Goro hums, walks over to Ren, kisses him lightly on the lips for five of the best seconds of Ren’s entire life, and then says, “Don’t let him pee anywhere but the puppy pads.” And then he turns around without even a look back and leaves. 

Ren stares at the closed door for what could either be a minute or an hour, and then he says, to the empty room, “What the fuck?”

* * *

He ends up passing out again on the couch, woken up a few hours later by Aoi eagerly licking him awake. He sits up, looking around the room for signs of any destruction; there’s a small puddle near the door, but it’s on the floor and is easy to clean up, and other than that there’s nothing. He scratches Aoi on the head and calls him a good boy, before he goes to grab a towel from the closet next to the bathroom, across from Goro’s bedroom. 

“Oh, shit,” Ren says. 

Goro must have left one of his drawers open, because there are clothes strewn about  _ everywhere.  _ Ren grabs a towel and throws it on top of the puddle in the hall before heading back to the bedroom to better assess the damage. Ren sees not one but  _ two  _ open drawers, which makes him have to consider that either Goro wasn’t completely meticulous, or the dog knew how to open drawers. He’s not sure what answer he’d prefer. 

“Fucking hell,” he mutters. A few of the clothes on the floor have holes chewed through them, and Ren piles those ones in the corner. He wonders, briefly, if Goro would consider clothes that were dragged onto his floor by a dog dirty, and he comes to the decision that he probably would, but Ren folds them and puts them back anyway, because the more money Goro spent on laundry the less he’d agree to go out with Ren, probably. Every time Aoi comes up to see what he’s doing he shows whatever piece of clothing he’s holding to the dog and says  _ no  _ in a firm, commanding voice; Ren has seen shadows run and hide when he used that voice, but the dog just continues to look at him, unimpressed. It’s a bit of a blow to his ego, if he’s being honest. 

He gets the clothes cleaned up; a stretched out shirt that looks like a night shirt has been chewed through, as have a  _ very  _ tight pair of shorts that Ren, in a low moment of utter pervertedness, has half a mind to stuff into his bag. All in all not a lot of damage, until Ren picks up the last shirt and sees, underneath it, the remains of a glove. 

His heart does this very weird thing where it tries to jump into his throat and drop into his stomach at the same time, which basically just means that it stays in the same place but feels super weird. He crouches down to study it; it’s missing two fingers and has tooth marks everywhere. Ren clutches it. 

The question -- the question is, does Goro normally keep gloves in here, or is this… 

He takes out his phone and takes a picture of the glove, hoping he can figure it out using Goro’s response without pilfering through his room. 

_ Ren: we had a little accident  _ _  
_ _ Goro: honestly, Ren, the dog is not going to learn good behaviour if you keep going around chewing my things _ _  
_ _ Ren: holy shit was that a joke _ _  
_ _ Goro: why do you say that like I’m not funny? _ _  
_ _ Ren: oh you’re hILARIOUS but not because you try to be  _ _  
_ _ Ren: are you really not mad about him chewing your stuff? _ _  
_ _ Goro: did he ruin anything else? _ _  
_ _ Ren: a shirt and a pair of very slutty looking shorts  _ _  
_ _ Goro: they’re BIKE SHORTS _ _  
_ _ Ren: hot _ _  
_ _ Goro: it’s fine. I will have a talk with him when I get home _ _  
_ _ Ren: you know not all pets can talk right?? Like that’s just a morgana thing _ _  
_ _ Goro: I am aware, Ren _ _  
_ _ Ren: why aren’t you paying attention in class _ _  
_ _ Goro: I already know what they’re teaching _

Ren laughs. God, he was an asshole. Akechi Goro was a motherfucking asshole, and Ren was so  _ obnoxiously  _ in love with him, and Goro had kissed him this morning and also possibly kept the glove he’d given him three years ago? That had to mean something, right? 

He calls Ryuji. “If someone kissed you and also kept an article of clothing that was important to the both of you and you found it three years later does that mean they like you?”

Ryuji says, “Do you mean like, a shirt, or like underwear? ‘Cause if it’s underwear, they probably like you, dude.”

Ren resists the urge to slam his head against a wall and adds Ann to the call. 

“What does it mean if someone kissed you and also you found out they had kept a glove that was kind of meaningful to you?”

Ann says, “What the fuck, Goro  _ kissed  _ you?”

Ryuji says, “When did we start talking about Akechi?”

“Ryuji, I love you, but I’m never calling you for advice again.”

“That’s fair,” Ryuji says. “Will you tell me what number I am on your speed dial?”

“I’d have to kill you after,” Ren says. 

“Can we get back to the fact that Goro kissed you? When? Where?”

“I assume on the mouth,” Ryuji says. 

“Yeah, it was on the mouth,” Ren confirms. Ann makes a frustrated noise. 

“I didn’t mean where on  _ you,  _ I meant where did the kiss take place!”

“Oh,” Ren says, sitting down on Goro’s (made) bed and patting the mattress so Aoi jumps up. “In his kitchen this morning.”

“How early were you there? He leaves for school stupidly early.”

“I came over last night,” Ren says, booping Aoi repeatedly on the nose and laughing at the way the puppy kept trying to catch his finger. “Aoi was whining and kept waking him up.”

“Are you sure you guys haven’t actually been dating for years?” Ryuji asks. Ren sighs and flops back onto Goro’s pillows. 

“If Ren had been upfront about their dates maybe they could have been,” Ann says. 

“Well excuse me if I thought ‘do you want to go sit in a dark room and listen to jazz music on a Saturday night and I’ll buy all your drinks for you’ was explicit enough.”

“You guys do that EVERY week, Ren!”

“Okay, well! He kissed me this morning, but I think he only did it because I challenged him.”

“Why don’t you guys just talk to each other? I swear, think about how much shit could’ve been avoided if we all just talked to Akechi,” Ryuji says. It’s a remarkable observation coming from him, which makes Ren think that his therapy might be helping him, which is good, and Ren makes a mental note to mention this next time he talks to Ryuji by himself. 

“Goro and him don’t talk to each other, they just challenge each other to dumb things and get progressively more emotionally constipated.”

“That’s not all we do,” Ren says defensively. Ann sighs. 

“I’ve been telling you for years that I think he likes you,” she says. 

“Then why aren’t we dating?” Ren fires back. 

“Because you refuse to call your dates dates! He kissed you, do you really think he would have done that if he didn’t like you? Do you really think he’d kiss you just to win a -- oh, actually.”

“Now you see my  _ problem,”  _ Ren says miserably. 

“Well,” Ann says, rallying back gracefully, “I guess we’ll just have to use Ryuji’s plan.”

“I hate Ryuji’s plan.”

“Wow,” Ryuji says. “It’s just like being in high school again.”

“Talk to him!” Ann says sternly. “If you don’t then I will!”

“You’re not allowed to do that,” Ren says. “It goes against the code. Ryuji, tell her about the code.”

“I don’t know, dude,” Ryuji says. “It’s been pretty annoying to watch you mope for three years.”

“Et tu?”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Ann says. “Talk to him or I’m going to just put it in the group chat that you like him.”

“I got to go, the dog is doing something.”

“No he’s not! Do not run away from this conversation!”

Ren runs away from the conversation. He hangs up the phone and firmly ignores it when it starts to vibrate from Ann’s angry texts, staring up at the ceiling of Goro’s bedroom. He plays with the glove absentmindedly, rubbing the material between his fingers. It had to be the glove. He hasn’t seen any other gloves in Goro’s room. 

He turns his head to look at the dog, who’s sitting at the bottom of the bed licking himself. Ren sighs and closes his eyes. 

He must have fallen asleep again, because he wakes up to a voice saying, “Really? Have you done anything today except sleep?”

He rubs his eyes and sits up on his elbows to see Goro standing in the doorway. “I cleaned your room, thank you very much, since someone forgot to close his door.”

Goro rolls his eyes, which is rude, because Ren  _ did  _ clean his room. He walks over to where Aoi is running in excited circles on his bed and scratches him behind the ears, before he kneels down and says, “If this relationship is going to work, you’re going to have to stop chewing my things,” as if the fucking dog could understand him, but he looks so irritatingly cute, speaking to the puppy with a completely straight face, and God, Ryuji’s plan it is.

Before Ren can open his mouth to say something like  _ hey, remember this morning when you kissed me, what was that about,  _ when Goro sighs and turns towards him, grabbing the ruined glove out of Ren’s hand and studying it with a closed off expression. “I suppose you think me… sentimental,” he says, tone almost derisive, and Ren sits up completely, staring at him. 

“I… I mean, I kept mine, too. So.”

Goro narrows his eyes at him, but he doesn’t say anything, so Ren keeps speaking. 

“I’m glad you kept it,” he says. Goro looks away, but his hand is squeezing the glove. Ren has the strongest urge to reach out and grab it. 

Goro opens his mouth, closes it. Opens it again and says, “The dog shat in the kitchen.”

Ren flops back down on his back and laughs. “I hate you,” he says. 

“You have to clean it up,” Goro says, and he flops down on the bed next to Ren, turning his head and grinning at Ren, the smile Ren loves best, all sharp edges. There’s a challenge in his eyes. 

Ren rises to meet it. 

“Fine,” he says, but before he gets up he leans across the bed and pushes their lips together. Then he gets up out of the bed and heads into the kitchen, trying his very fucking best not to freak out. He picks up the dog shit, chucks it in the garbage on Goro’s tiny balcony, washes his hands, and then heads back into the room to see Aoi sitting on Goro’s chest. Goro appears to be deep in conversation with the dog, and Ren feels his heart swell as he watches them. 

“Hey,” he says, leaning against the doorframe. “We’ve got to go to the vet.”

Goro looks up at him, hair in his face, dog on his chest. Ren thinks there’s no greater sight in the world. 

* * *

They get back to Goro’s apartment with a dog who has been relentlessly prodded with needles (Ren whispers words of encouragement the entire time and pretends not to see Goro look away every time the vet pushes another syringe into their dog). Aoi runs around for a bit, and Goro plays tug-o-war with him while Ren fixes up dinner. It’s unflinchingly domestic once again, and Ren can’t quite stop himself from smiling as he prepares the food. 

Him and Goro eat mostly in silence while Aoi chews a bone at their feet. Goro takes the plates when they’re done, and Ren watches his back as he washes dishes, thinking. 

“Sojiro wants me to open tomorrow,” he says, a little apologetically. “So I can’t stay tonight to save you from the big bad puppy again.”

Goro shoots him a look over his shoulder. “It’s fine. Thank you for staying today.”

“I can head over tomorrow after my shift. Make sure he hasn’t eaten any more of your slutty clothes.”

Goro turns around and flicks water at him while Ren laughs. “They were  _ bike shorts,”  _ he says again. 

“If you say so.”

“Oh, I hate you,” Goro says. Ren gets up to help him dry the dishes, continuing to laugh under his breath until Goro bumps him a little too roughly with his hip. 

They wash dishes in silence; occasionally their knuckles brush as Goro passes him the dish, and eventually Ren says, “Hey Goro?”

“Hmm,” Goro says. 

“Are we going to talk about it?”

Goro scrapes a piece of food off the plate with his nail before submerging it back in the soapy water. “What would you like me to say?”

This is why discussing things never works out with him. They’ve never just talked about things; there have always been layers upon layers of subtext and hidden meaning and lies and plots and secrets. They don’t  _ talk,  _ they just act. They read each other. They challenge each other. 

_ What would you like me to say?  _ Ren realizes he doesn’t want him to say anything. He yanks Goro around, ignoring the water that splashes onto the floor and their clothes, and kisses him. He grips Goro by the shoulders and digs his nails in, pulling their bodies together. Goro gasps into Ren’s mouth, and he can’t help himself from thinking  _ I won. _

And then Goro pulls away, smirks against Ren’s lips, and says, “You got water all over my floors.” Ren laughs; it’s never that easy to win. 

“I’ll clean it up,” he says, moving his hands up to cradle Goro’s face between them. 

“Oh, that goes without saying,” he says smoothly. “You know where the towels are.”

Ren moves in for another kiss, but Goro steps back and looks pointedly at the puddle on the floor. Ren can’t help but whine, a little bit. 

“Now you’re just being mean,” he says, but he goes to the linen closet anyway, taking the time to try and slow his breathing and calm his racing heart. Part of him wonders if maybe Goro had sent him away so he could do the same. 

Goro is done washing dishes when Ren gets back; he throws the towel onto the ground to soak up the water and then leaves it there, heading over to where Goro is sitting on the couch, seemingly zoned out as he pets the dog. Ren throws himself down beside him, a little closer than usual, thighs pressing up together as he leans his head back and grins at Goro. 

“One thing I haven’t been able to figure out,” he says, pleased with the feel of Goro pressed up against him, even more pleased at the fact that he wasn’t moving away. “Where did he get the glove from? Where were you keeping it?”

Goro scratches Aoi under the chin and doesn’t answer. Ren nudges him. 

“It was under your pillow, wasn’t it? Come on, you can tell me.”

“Someone has a high opinion of himself.”

“Come on,” Ren cajoles. “Did you sleep with it each night?”

Goro suddenly grabs Ren by the collar and hauls him close, so they’re nose to nose. “I thought you had to open tomorrow?” He says, and the casual tone of voice is at direct odds with the fierce way he is gripping Ren’s shirt, keeping him right where Goro wants him. 

Ren says, “Hey. Were the dates we went on… not actually dates?”

Goro considers this. “You never called them that. I certainly wasn’t going to do it.”

“Why not? Did you think I was going to turn you down?” Ren says it like it’s a joke, but Goro just blinks at him, and Ren realizes that maybe his super obvious crush wasn’t as super obvious as his friends always said it was. “Wait, honestly?”

“Oh, shut up,” Goro says peevishly. Ren shifts, wrenching away from Goro’s grasp and swinging one of his legs over Goro’s, climbing into his lap. 

“Ann told me you could see my crush from space.”

“And Ann told  _ me  _ the same thing.”

Ren gasps dramatically. “That double-crossing backstabber. I can’t believe she wouldn’t just tell us and put us out of our misery.”

“It’s a good thing she didn’t,” Goro says, in his best supervillain voice. “I don’t take kindly to people who spill my secrets.”

“I can’t believe you’ve told Ann things you haven’t told me. I’m hurt.”

“I spread my secrets out.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s so that if anything gets out you’ll know who squealed.”

“Okay,” Goro says sweetly. “I won’t tell you.”

Ren laughs, his hands looped behind Goro’s neck. “Don’t worry, I won’t spill your secrets. Not even the really embarrassing ones.”

“I don’t have any embarrassing secrets,” Goro says, predictably. 

“What about the fact that you slept with the glove under your pillow?”

Goro winds a hand in Ren’s hair and somehow finds a way to both pull it and push forward, so their foreheads almost hit, and his lips are almost touching Ren’s. 

“And where did you keep yours?”

“Under my pillow,” Ren says easily. Goro’s eyes narrow, like he can’t quite tell if Ren is being truthful. He looks really fucking cute when he’s confused, but Ren knows if he told him that he’d get offended at the implication that he’s ever been confused. 

Ren leans forward and kisses him; Goro’s hands find their way to Ren’s waist, and they’ve started to creep upward, hands splayed across Ren’s ribs, when -- 

Aoi barks. Ren pulls away and looks at him; he’s standing up on the couch, and he barks again. 

“He wants attention,” Goro says. 

“ _ I  _ want attention,” Ren counters. 

“What else is new? Get off me.”

“Wait, seriously?” Ren says, pouting. 

“Don’t pout, you look ridiculous.”

“I’m trying to give you puppy dog eyes.”

“There is an  _ actual  _ puppy sitting beside you.”

Ren turns and looks at Aoi, who barks again. Ren sighs. 

“Fine,” he says, crawling off Goro’s lap and sending a glare at the dog. Goro leans forward to pet Aoi, and Ren is pleased to see that even though he’s acting calm and collected, his hair is messy and his cheeks are flushed pink. 

Ren reaches out and nudges Goro’s thigh with his foot, and Goro turns his head. “What?”

Ren kind of wants to tell him that he’s pretty, but he knows that Goro will roll his eyes. He kind of wants to tell him that he’s really happy this finally happened, but he doesn’t know how Goro will react to that and also he can only handle embarrassing himself so much. So what he ends up saying, instead, is, “Now can we hyphenate the dog’s name?”

Once again Goro proves what a formidable opponent he can be, because he says, against all odds and with a smirk on his face, “Sure.” 

And Ren doesn’t quite know what to say to that, so he leans forward and kisses him again. 

**Author's Note:**

> twitter @felixfraldaddy


End file.
